The year is more than half over. Two big box office weekends are behind us – Memorial Day and July 4. The crippling effect of COVID-19 on theater attendance has also started to wane. After several years in which ticket sales in the U.S. were above $11 billion, they dropped to $2.1 billion in 2020 and $4.5 billion last year. So far this year, ticket sales are above $4 billion.
The success of movies is often measured by ticket sales both inside the U.S. and internationally. This determines a movie’s total revenue and profits. It is an especially critical yardstick because many movies have higher ticket sales internationally than they do domestically.
Another sign of the health of the movie industry is that eight films have brought in over $400 million in ticket sales, which means they have done much better than the average film revenue. Several others, released recently, will probably cross this barrier.
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An unusually large number of the top grossing films are sequels. “Jurassic World Dominion” has global ticket sales of $837 million so far. Ticket sales for “The Batman” have totaled $771 million. The figure is $402 million for “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”
The top grossing film so far in 2022 is also a sequel. “Top Gun: Maverick” has posted ticket sales worldwide of $1.126 billion. Almost half of this number is from international revenue. The movie is the only one that has ticket sales of over $1 billion this year.
The first “Top Gun” movie was released in 1986. The film’s star, Tom Cruise, was only 25 years old then. When the new movie was released he was 59, and he has just turned 60.
“Top Gun: Maverick” was expected to be a success because the first one did so well. Worldwide box office was $334 million, which is close to $500 million when adjusted for inflation.
Another reason “Top Gun: Maverick” did so well is probably that it took two years to release after it was finished. COVID-19 delayed its premier. In the meantime, the anticipation of its release grew substantially, and people flooded theaters when it was released on May 27.
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